Faculty + Staff News / October 23, 2012

José Andreu's (Art + Design) printmaking was highlighted by the Elmhurst Press and will be a part of the "Under Mexican Light" exhibit at the Elmhurst Artists' Guild Gallery in the Elmhurst Art Museum, opening October 30.

Marcos Balter (Music) was profiled on Gapers Block for his compositional improvisation work at a showcase of experimental and improvised music by Chicago Latino composers October 21 as part of the Latino Music Festival.

Annette Barbier (Interactive Arts + Media) exhibited her collaborative work "Expose, Intervene, Occupy: Reinterpreting Public Space" at the University Film and Video Association conference in August, and in September presented "Subtractions and Additions," a talk on her work addressing environmental degradation, at the Inter-Society for the Electronic Arts in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Kathryn Bergquist (Fiction Writing) was featured and interviewed in a Sun-Times blog as the October Runner of the Month for The Chicago Runner Series.

Dave Berner (Radio) was part of an October 20 panel discussion on writing creative nonfiction for the In Print Writers Association in Rockford. In November, he'll be part of a panel/workshop at the Wisconsin Book Festival in Madison, Wisconsin. Berner's short audio documentary NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) was picked up by WAMC, the Northeast Public Radio Network. 

Marcelo Caplan (Science + Mathematics) attended the 8th Annual Illinois Community Schools Forum, Creating a Community Vision for our Children's Success, October 19, and received the Community School Leadership Award for "his work using community schools to connect students and families to expanded STEM learning opportunities and engaging the community in supporting learning and development."

Jessica Cochran (Center for Book + Paper Arts) received an Illinois Arts Council travel scholarship to attend the Alliance of Artist Communities Annual Conference in Kansas City. She also was awarded a Hatch Residency at the Chicago Artists Coalition, a yearlong, juried incubator for contemporary Chicago artists and curators that strives to support an ecology of curatorial and artistic practice.  

Eugene Cross (Fiction Writing) will participate in Penn State Erie's Creative Writers Reading Series on November 8 by reading from his new published work, Fires of Our Choosing.

Caroline Davis (Music) was profiled by the Chicago Reader in advance of her first album as a lead jazz saxophonist, Live Work & Play, which comes out early next month.

Ron Fleischer's (Film + Video) short, A Tooth Tale, will screen at the New Orleans Film Festival on October 13, Austin Film Festival on October 20, California Independent Film Festival on November 11, and the 60th Columbus International Film + Video Festival—where it won an Honorable Mention—on November 17. 

Heather Gilbert (Theatre) has been named a recipient of a 3ARTS Award, which goes to women in the fields of theater, music, visual arts, the teaching arts, and dance, and awards a $15,000 stipend. 

Norma Green (Journalism), a 35-year docent with the Chicago Architecture Foundation, led tours of Chicago’s historic City Hall during CAF’s second annual Open House weekend festival, featuring free behind-the-scenes access to more than 150 area buildings. The more than 650 visitors during her October 13 volunteer shift included people from across the globe.

Re'Lynn Hansen (English) will have her book of prose poems, To Some Women I Have Known, published by White Pines Press in early 2014. The collection of poetry recently won the Marie Alexander Award for the Prose Poem. 

Nena Ivon (Fashion Studies) was selected as one of several influential Chicagoans to model Burberry trench coats in photos celebrating the launch of Burberry's new flagship store on Michigan Avenue.

Aviya Kushner (English) moderated two panels—"The Translator's Preface: Why It Matters and How to Make It Count" and "Editors Discuss The Latest in Positioning and Promoting Translation"—at the American Literary Translators Association Conference October 3-6 in Rochester, New York. 

Nita Meola (English Department + Learning Studio) co-chaired the 2nd Annual Great Lakes Region of the College Reading and Learning Association October 13 on the topic "Forward Thinking in College Reading and Learning: Transcending the Past" at Columbia College Chicago.

Jim Mitchem (Radio) is serving as a reviewer for the 2013 Broadcast Education Association's Production Aesthetics & Criticism Division for the association's convention this upcoming April in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Vaun Monroe's (Film + Video) Chicago Blues is an official selection of the Urban Mediamaker Film Festival, which promotes and supports a diverse independent media arts community in the Southeastern US and worldwide by showcasing international independent films.

John Mossman's (Film + Video) Into the Wake returns to the Gene Siskel Center October 29. He recently won the best director award at the Naperville International Film Fest and is appearing in the play In Pigeon House at the Den Theater.

Carol Ng-He (HHSS) has been awarded the 2012 Museum Art Educator of the Year by the Illinois Art Education Association. 

Brendan Riley (English) presented "Why You Should Care about the Living Dead" October 18 at Southwestern Michigan College in Dowagiac, Michigan.

Frank Rinaldi's (Film + Video) feature film, Sundowning, made its Chicago debut at the University of Chicago Doc Films Series October 14. The theatrical premiere was in August at Anthology Film Archives in New York. The film has been playing art houses, universities, and alternative venues across the country.

Barbara Robertson (Theatre) will narrate a George Méliés Cine-Concert on Saturday, October 27, at the Music Box Theatre as part of a special event featuring rarely seen short films by the French film pioneer George Méliés with live musical and narrative accompaniment. 

Rosita Sands (Music) served as co-chair of the Ninth Biennial Symposium on Multicultural Music October 10-13, which is sponsored by the University of Tennessee and the National Association for Music Education. She also presented a session, "Before Gospel: African American Sacred Music Traditions," which highlights resources available on the websites of the Center for Black Music Research and the Alan Lomax Archives.

Joanie Schultz (Theatre) has been selected as a co-artistic curator for the Chicago Park District's Theater on the Lake summer 2013 season.

Sandeep Sharma's (Film + Video) newest short film, A Billion and Counting, screened October 17 at the Chicago Cultural Center in the visual, performance, and media arts program From Chicago to Lahore: A Cultural Nexus.

David Spodak (Film + Video) was mentioned in a Film Stage article about the anticipation of his documentary Anatomy of a Film, which analyzes the 1957 film Paths of Glory.

Have news to share about your professional awards or accomplishments? Email news@colum.edu, or go to colum.edu/columbiaonline.